When temperatures rise, many people turn to the comfort supplied by indoor AC systems, but in some settings, such as in server rooms or apartment buildings, installing a standard AC system could prove impractical, difficult or much too costly. This is why people often use portable air conditioning units and portable swamp coolers for beating the high temperatures of summer.

While both of these appliances are capable of lowering ambient temperatures in an environment, they have different ways of cooling and the terms “swamp cooler/evaporative cooler” and “portable air conditioner” are used mistakenly as though they are interchangeable.

Home air conditioning systems act as dehumidifiers that pull moisture from the air, while swamp coolers add humidity to cool down the environment.

Additionally, air conditioning units tend to work best in closed spaces where the air is being circulated continuously, while swamp coolers provide fresh air but in incremental bursts.

For this reason, these distinct differences mean that choosing the best portable air conditioner for humid climate areas will require you to consider:

Cooling Needs

Energy Concerns

Climate

Portable AC designs allow you to control your indoor comfort levels without having to install a unit permanently. Portable units are additionally good for supplementing a central air system and they are great for apartment buildings that cannot accommodate window units or houses with windows that are not sufficient in size for the permanent installation of window units. Moreover, these room ACs are small, they have casters and you only need to run an exhaust hose outdoors to assemble them.

How Do Portable Models Work?

In terms of their functioning, air conditioning units have both hot and cold sides of the conditioning cycle in a single unit that is box-like. A condenser coil is cooled by indoor air and heat is expelled by the exhaust hose. Last, as a result of this cooling cycle, water is condensed and kept in an inside drain bin.

More than half of the home energy bill is the result of home heating and cooling systems and thus, as your thermostat rises, so will the costs of maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures. Research shows that as much as 5% of the electricity that is produced in the US is used for home air conditioning and this costs people more than $15 billion. For this reason, finding a cost-effective solution is worth considering and if you live in the appropriate climate, a swamp cooler could be ideal.

How Do Swamp Coolers Work?

Evaporative coolers use the process of evaporation in order to cool indoor spaces down. These have a box-shaped frame and a walled-fan along with pads that are soaked with water, as the fan takes in warm air in, it sends this warm air through the pads that have been soaked by water and this helps to drop the temperature by as much as 20 degrees. This is a lot like splashing a bit of cool water on your skin when the weather is hot and enjoying the resulting coolness. Because they cool indoor air down by evaporation, these units use up to 75% less electricity than air conditioners.

Additionally, versatility is a major advantage of investing in a portable swamp cooler. Personal air coolers are ideal for cooling down portions of a home and commercial swamp coolers are perfect for stadiums, warehouses and even entertainment venues.